I use the Steelers, and they have a way of stuffing the running game. Passing, on the other hand, seems to be their weakness; I'm getting a little tired of shutting down most teams' run game just to get my face handed to me when they go to the air .

I've tried the 3-4, 3-5-3, quarter and nickel defenses, but nothing seems to be working. Anyone got any ideas?_________________I've been on the Atkins diet for years- except I eat only Quarterbacks!

It might help if you described some of the specific problems you have with defending passes.

1) Are you getting beat with deep passes, short passes? Are WRs getting wide open or are they making underneath catches and then avoiding tackles for big gains?

2) You've tried a lot of formations, but do you tend to blitz or play back? What about man vs zone?

3) What player do you control on defense?

Defending the pass is probably the toughest part of Madden. I think the biggest reason is that you are compelled to switch defenders and make a defensive action in less than a second (if you try to control the player closest to tge ball carrier), and if you make a mistake by selecting a different player than you think you are taking control of you can take the best positioned defender right out of the play.

Some general recommendations I have:

1) Play mostly basic pass defenses. I like 2 deep zones with man coverage underneath. This allows all promary receivers to be man covered with help deep. No matter what formation the offensive receivers are in you can hit the "move to cover man" coverage audible to make sure that the receivers are covered, and the deep zones are also always covered. You won't get great amounts of pressure, but will limit big plays and force your opponent to sustain long drives in order to score. No easy TDs.

2) Avoid excessive blitzing. Blitzes work best when not expected. I'd say no more than 1 in 4 plays (this may be different if you use a scheme like my Speed Quarters where blitzing DBs replace ordinary pass rushers) should be a blitz of 5 defenders or more, and probably no more than one in 8-10 should be blitzes of 6 defenders. In general you should almost never blitz 7 or 8 defenders, except maybe in goal line situtations where you absolutely need to stop a run.

3) Learn to repostion defenders before the snap. Line shifts are key to getting a good pass rush. I usually spread the line wide on obvious passing downs to contain the QB and get better edge rush angles. Positiong the LBs is key to stopping shorter pass routes and containing the RBs. Adjusting man coverages is important when facing unbalanced formations like Trips.

4) Learn to make safe moves when switching defenders. Avoid the dive button especially, diving tackles are the fastest way to take a defender out of a play. Learn to use the swat ball action rather than the catch action; you'll get less INTs but will get more pass deflections.

As far as formations/plays, if you use a normal playbook but wouldn't mind adding a few custom plays, look at http://www.monsterden.net/madden2004/edgenickel-3deepclose.xhtml . This is my favorite defensive play, and is especially good at stopping deep and sideline passes. The outside receivers are manned up, and the 3 deep zone creates automatic double teams on streak and deep post routes. I get a decent number of INT's due to the angled drops of the slot CBs. The only real weakness is not underneath zone defenders to stop shallow crossing routes.

Have yo tried the Bump and run defensive scheme. It might be worth a shot since the secondary isn't all that fast. But they can stop the pass. You just have to know how._________________It feels great to live in the heart of Big Blue Nation. And I don't mean Duke